1246 — Henry Raspe was elected anti-king by the Rhenish prelates in France.
1455 — King Henry VI was taken prisoner by the Yorkists at the Battle of St. Albans, during the War of the Roses.
1570 — Abraham Ortelius published the first modern atlas in Belgium.
1819 — The steamship Savannah became the first to cross the Atlantic Ocean.
1859 — The creator of “Sherlock Holmes,” Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was born.
1868 — Near Marshfield, IN, The “Great Train Robbery” took place. The robbery was worth $96,000 in cash, gold and bonds to the seven members of the Reno gang.
1882 – The US formally recognised Korea.
1891 – The first public motion picture was given in Thomas Edison’s lab.
1892 — Dr Washington Sheffield invented the toothpaste tube.
1900 — The Associated Press was incorporated as a non-profit news cooperative in New York.
1906 — The Wright brothers received a patent for their flying machine.
1939 — Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini signed a military alliance between Germany and Italy known as the “Pact of Steel.”
1969 — A lunar module of Apollo 10 flew within nine miles of the moon’s surface. The event was a rehearsal for the first lunar landing.
1972 — US President Nixon became the first U.S. president to visit Russia. He met with Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev.
1972 — The island Ceylon adopted a new constitution becoming the republic of Sri Lanka.
1986 — Sylvester Stallone agreed to a 10-picture, six-year deal with United Artists signing for a reported $15 million for each film.
1990 — In the Middle East, North and South Yemen merged to become a single state known as the Republic of Yemen.
1990 — Microsoft released Windows 3.0.
1998 — Bolivia was hit with a series of powerful earthquakes. At least 18 were killed. The quakes ranged in magnitude from 5.9 to 6.8.
1998 — A federal judge said Secret Service agents could be compelled to testify before a grand jury in Monica Lewinsky investigation concerning US President Clinton.
1998 – Voters in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland turned out to cast ballots giving approval to a Northern Ireland peace accord.
2012 — In Japan, the Tokyo Skytree tower opened.
